By:  | July 2, 2019 3:17 pm

A bantamweight kickboxing bout has been added to the Rizin 17 card. Former K-1 champion Taiga Kawabe will be looking to rediscover his old form after a poor run of results when he faces former Rebels and WPMF champion Hikaru Machida.

As usual the promotion took to Twitter to announce the matchup:

Taiga was last seen in action at Rizin 15. The Japanese star will not look back on that night with fond memories as he was stopped in the second round by Thalisson Gomes Ferreira, he dropped a decision to Seksan Or Kwanmuang at Rise World Series 2019 the previous month.

Machida will be making his Rizin debut. He has won titles in both kickboxing and Muay Thai and is coming off a decision win over Yusuke Iwaki at Knockout 2019 Spring.

As previously announced Tatsuya Kawajiri faces Ali Abdulkhalikov in a lightweight bout at the Saitama Super Arena on July 28th. Meanwhile Satoru Kitaoka has been matched with Johnny Case in the same division.

The card will also feature Ulka Sasaki, Shintaro Ishiwatari, Yuki Motoya, Hiromasa Ogikubo, Mikuru Asakura, Yusuke Yachi, Vitaly Shemetov, Jake Heun, Ham Seo-Hee and Mizuke Hirota.

Rizin 17, Tokyo, July 28th
Ulka Sasaki vs. Shintaro Ishiwatari (Bantamweight)
Yuki Motoya vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo (Bantamweight)
Yusuke Yachi vs. Mikuru Asakura (Lightweight)
Jake Heun vs. Vitaly Shemetov  (Heavyweight)
Ham Seo Hee vs. Tomo Maesawa (Super Atomweight)
Mizuke Hirota vs. Roberto de Souza (Lightweight)
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Johnny Case (Lightweight)
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Ali Abdulkhalikov (Lightweight)
Kickboxing: Kevin Ross vs. Daiki Watabe (Featherweight)
Kickboxing: Taiga Kawabe vs. Hikaru Machida (Bantamweight)